TEX 4, MIN 1: Twins Struggle to Score Without Sano, Mauer

Win Expectancy (via Fangraphs)

Hamels had his way with the Twins, carving up an “interesting” lineup. The veteran lefty pitched a complete game, with the only run he surrendered being unearned.

Joe Mauer was getting an off day against a tough lefty and Miguel Sano was forced to sit after being hit in the wrist/hand by a pitch on Friday night. Both of their absences were 100 percent understandable, but since the Twins are still carrying an eight-man bullpen, Paul Molitor was very limited in his options for replacements.

Kyle Gibson returned from Rochester, where he pitched quite well, to give up three runs over 5.1 innings. He threw more pitches (97) in that brief of an outing as Hamels did pitching a complete game (96). Gibby gave up seven hits, walked two batters and had four strikeouts.

The Twins offense mustered just four hits. Jorge Polanco hit a double, the team’s only extra-base hit. That was especially nice to see, since he entered the night with a .465 OPS vs. lefties on the season. Dozier singled and drew the team’s only walk, but was also picked off while trying to steal second base to end the third inning. Eduardo Escobar hit a single in the fourth, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. Buxton scored the only run on a weak tapper to first after he stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error.

The really fun highlights from this one came from the defense. The Twins, starting three shortstops in their infield in this game, resulted in some predictable problems in terms of generating offense, but the glove work was a thing of beauty. In the fourth inning, Jorge Polanco started a gorgeous inning-ending double play.

https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/894011268914348033

Not to be outdone, Escobar responded by making three outstanding plays, all three of a different variety. In the fifth inning, he charged in on a ball and made a fine barehanded play. In the seventh, he climbed the ladder to keep a ball from getting into left field. To cap things off in the eighth, playing in the shift, he made a great diving stop.

https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/894026808928161793

Ryan Pressly had a very encouraging outing, pitching two perfect innings while striking out a pair of batters. Taylor Rogers gave up a run in the ninth, and has now been scored on in six-straight appearances.

Postgame With Molitor

https://twitter.com/fsnorth/status/894032332427886592

Twins W-L Record

Overall: 52-56 (.481)

Last 10: 3-7 (.300)

Last 20: 7-13 (.350)

Last 40: 17-23 (.425)

Last 80: 37-43 (.463)

Defensive Lineups

Here’s a look at the starting lineups from the past seven games:

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Looking Ahead

Sunday: Twins (Jose Berrios) vs. Texas (Nick Martinez), 1:10 pm CT

It’ll be interesting to see if whether or not Sano is able to get back into action for this one. In three career plate appearances against Martinez, he’s hit two homers. Martinez was hammered for seven runs over 5.1 innings in his last start.

Berrios has been able to do an outstanding job at keeping the ball in the park at Target Field this year. He’s given up just one home run at home and has a 2.61 ERA. On the road, he’s surrendered eight homers and has a 4.38 ERA. Jose was phenomenal in his last outing, pitching 7.0 two-hit innings while giving up one run.

Monday: Twins (TBD) vs. Milwaukee (TBD)

Tuesday: Twins (TBD) vs. Milwaukee (TBD)

Next Series: Twins head to Milwaukee for two games.